


Night on the Ship

by Sketchup



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Arcanaverse, Gen, Original Character(s), Siblings, Sweet, The Arcana Next Generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24750343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sketchup/pseuds/Sketchup
Summary: Wren thinks about how her family isn't like other families--and learns something new about her brother--during one quiet night aboard the ship.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Night on the Ship

Wren knew her family was different from other families. They sailed around the world in a pirate ship, for one thing. Not a lot of other families she knew did that. At least if they did, they were trying to get somewhere specific, like a new country, or a new home. Her family lived on the ship. Sometimes they would dock for a while--a week, a few weeks, or even a couple of months--but in the end, they didn’t stay in any of those places. Their ‘home’ was more likely to be the wildly-rocking hull of an ocean-battered ship as it was a bed on solid land. 

It wasn’t better or worse than other people’s families, of course. Just...different. After all, Wren enjoyed getting to see new places. Sometimes the food wasn’t something she liked, or the smells took some getting used to, but it really was exciting to see just how similar-yet-different the people were. Her favorite part was definitely the fashion--she had a secret sketchbook hidden under the floorboards where she would sketch all the different clothes they came across.

So anyway, all in all, she had seen more of the world than any other kid she had met, and she would be lying if she said that didn’t fill her with a bit of pride.

Her family was different in other ways as well. She knew that she and her brother were adopted, even though she didn’t remember anything about her other parents. For her, ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ had always been the ones she had now; their faces might not look like hers, but that was only a minor detail. But her brother Felix was her brother through and through, which would have made him the most ‘normal’ thing about her life…

If only Felix himself wasn’t also pretty strange.

For one, he knew how to do magic, which...well, it mustn't be all that rare of a skill, as their mom could do it too (and their dad, although he could only light a fire, but he was very proud of that,) but Wren couldn’t seem to summon any magic at all, so to her it was rather unusual. 

For another, although he was seventeen now, Felix never seemed to act the way anyone thought he should act. The crew would always joke around with him as if he were an adult, elbowing him and joshing with him about adult things that ‘she would understand when she was older’. Her brother would good-naturedly agree and laugh along, but as far as Wren could tell, he didn’t do any of the things they were referring to. He hardly ever drank, and only smoked sometimes--Wren didn’t like that, so she thought that was why he didn’t--and he spent most of his time on the ship with the rest of them. When they docked, the other men would all go out into the town, ‘to celebrate’. Every time they invited Felix, and although he often went with them, he was always back in time for bed.

Felix was there now, in his bunk below Wren’s, although she was nowhere near sleep; probably why she was thinking about such things. Although it was dark, the lights from the lamps reflected in and cast shadows on the wooden walls. They weren’t scary, but very familiar--this had been her evenings as long as she could remember. Almost all twelve of her years.

“Hey, Felix. Are you awake?” She said it softly; so softly it was barely a whisper above the gentle ‘whoosh’ of the waves slapping the dock outside. 

There was a minute, and then:

“Yeah. Why are you awake?”

“Can’t sleep.” Immediately comforted by his voice below, Wren wiggled under her blanket and let her head hang over the edge of the sturdy rope hammock. Her braid, which was becoming very long now, hung halfway off as well. Felix chuckled.

“You almost hit me with that thing.”

He was, Wren thought, supposedly quite handsome. Though she seldom had others to play with, now that she was twelve, she found herself beset by ‘friends’--that was, girls who merely wanted to use her to get closer to Felix. They constantly talked about how good-looking he was, as if that had anything to do with her. Ha! As far as brothers went, Felix was pretty good, but he was still annoying sometimes. She didn’t see the attraction. 

“Why don’t you ever stay out at night when we dock?”

“That’s a strange question for the middle of the night.”

Wren shrugged, as best as she was able from her position. “I was thinking about it s’all.”

“There’s no reason to stay out, I guess.”

That seemed like a perfectly reasonable answer, but she couldn’t help thinking about what the other sailors said; about what her brother’s admirers said.

“Do you think you’re ever going to get married, like mom and dad?”

Another quiet laugh.

“Your brain is busy tonight.” She thought maybe he wouldn’t answer; the cabin was quiet for a long moment. Then she heard him roll over and sigh.

“I don’t know. Maybe? Does this question have anything to do with the first?”

Wren felt the first inklings of embarrassment, but shrugged them off. This was Felix, after all. He always said they were the most important things to each other. She deserved to know.

“Maybe. The men sometimes joke about staying with women. Or other men. They stay with them off the ship. Don’t you ever, uhm...want to stay with anyone?”

This time there was no laugh, and when Wren craned her head, squinting in the dark, she thought her brother might actually look...a bit embarrassed? His ruddy cheeks were pink; even his scar looked flushed.

“Gods Wren,” he mumbled, and ran a hand through his long, messy hair. “Ugh. I need a trim.”

“Mom will do it for you.”

There was more silence. 

“Do you have someone you like? You know...like-like?” she continued softly, whispering into the dark.

With a creak of old wood, Felix’s feet touched the floor, and Wren had to duck back as her brother’s head was suddenly up by hers. He stood leaned against the timbers holding up their hammocks, and his warm whiskey-colored eyes shone a bit in the light.

“Do you have someone you like, Wren?” He said it softly, but still, the idea had her blushing furiously, and she pulled her blanket up instinctively, as if to physically block out the question.

“Me?! No! Of course not! That’s gross!” 

Her voice was still a whisper, although it was a vehement one. If anyone, especially their parents, heard such a thing, she probably would die of embarrassment. Felix smiled again at that, and gave her braid a tug.

“Then why all the questions, truly?”

Wren thought about it. She thought about it hard. She was tempted to shrug; to say it was nothing; to roll over and try again to count holes in the ceiling until she finally fell asleep. (She already knew there were 55 above her bunk, but the counting usually helped.) But for some reason, being up so late, just the two of them awake...it felt like the best time to talk like this. 

“You don’t want to be here, do you?”

Felix blinked, nonplussed.

“I can tell, you know. You sometimes look far away, like you’re thinking of some other place. When mom and dad say where we’re going next, you always look sad, just for a second. Do you want to go away from us? Is there somewhere else you want to be?”

He continued to play with her braid, but it seemed like an unconscious gesture. Maybe he felt it too; the weirdly candid mood that the quiet nighttime laid before them.

“I...don’t want to leave you. Don’t you worry about that. I’d never leave you behind.” 

Some part of Wren relaxed, just a bit. 

“I guess...mm. I don’t have a place I want to be, per say. But…” now he looked sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I do have someone I, uh...wanted to see again. Maybe. Someday.”

That was a surprise. Suddenly alert, feeling more awake, Wren sat up as quickly as she dared while trying not to smack her head.

“You do?” Her brain raced, trying to think of who her brother might have met that he was so eager to reunite with. “Who? I had no idea! You never said anything!”

“Quiet,” he hissed, putting a hand over her mouth. He removed it again almost as quickly when she licked it. “Ew!”

“Tell me who,” she demanded, and he grimaced, obviously regretting his decision to tell her, but the curiosity was too strong.

“Just...someone I met a long time ago. Back in Vesuvia. I, uhm...I just wonder about him. I wonder what he’s up to. It’s not...Not that big of a thing.”

But Wren wondered if that was the truth. Clearly wanting to end this line of questioning, Felix wiped his slobbery hand on his pants and ducked back down, laying back in his hammock to the sound of creaking timbers.

“Do you think about him a lot?”

“...Here and there.”

“Why?”

A small sigh. “Because he seemed lonely.”

Lonely. Sometimes, Wren thought her brother might be lonely. It didn’t make sense to be lonely when he was surrounded by people, but that was what it seemed like. Being lonely wasn’t something that Wren liked. She splayed out again, a foot dangling off the side of her hammock, and tried to imagine if her parents weren’t there. That hurt. She tried to imagine further--if Felix wasn’t there--but that one was unimaginable. 

The ship gently swayed; they gently swayed with it.

“Do you think he misses you too?”

“I doubt it.”

She felt a flutter of indignation, but by this point sleep had begun to creep up on her, and her eyes closed against her will.

“I don’t think that’s true at all. I would miss you if you were gone...”

The silences between their conversation grew longer and longer, and while she waited for a reply, Wren slipped into sleep. 

Felix, however, was still awake, arms behind his head, looking out the small porthole in their cabin. He couldn’t stop the wistful smile as he thought about the boy from years ago, whose red hair never seemed far from his mind. What would he look like now? Was he still reading books about running a Kingdom? Or was he actually running Vesuvia at this point? Was he remembering how to have fun? 

How silly to have such a fascination with someone he only met for one day so long ago, he thought, but the smile stayed even as he closed his eyes. What was it he said? He liked croissants. Felix had never tried his hand at baking, but how hard could it be? Maybe he could learn to make those. He would ask his mom tomorrow, he thought...maybe when she was cutting his hair…

Then both siblings were lost to dreams...dreams that were not so different from the dreams of other people. They dreamed about those they cared about most. 

And they dreamed about home.


End file.
